Indirect Proof
by Orange Purse
Summary: Then it hit him. His parents were ghost hunters. And he was a ghost. Now Danny needs proof of his parent's love. Instead, he ends up with an indirect proof.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Yeah a bit short. I've got the next chapter written - I've just got to type it up and polish it a bit. This will have either two or three chapters. I haven't quite decided. If you find any mistakes, please please tell me. I'll love you and everything. Now I have to finish my mac and cheese. Have a nice whatever.

* * *

Whenever Danny could catch a break from ghost hunting, he usually had a mountain of homework and chores to do.

After finishing most of his homework (a few questions here and there couldn't really matter), he went on to start his chores. He decided to start with the easiest one that was also one that his parents would very much appreciate. His dad was always telling him to clean the lab.

Before the, um, accident, cleaning the lab really was a chore. After the accident, it became a whole another story. It was a new way for him to practice his aim while his list of chores got a bit shorter.

White rings enclosed him for a moment and he was ready to clean. (His ghost HAZMAT suit counted, right?)

All it took was a few well-aimed blasts and suddenly the lab look good as new. After plus to cleaning the lab – it would actually take quite some time to clean the lab if he did it the regular way, so if his parents asked why he couldn't do his other chores, he could easily blame it on the lab.

All that was left was a black spiral notebook.

Danny stepped onto the floor – as a human – and went towards the notebook.

Papers and napkins with words scribbled on them wasn't odd, but an actual notebook in the lab was. The notebooks contained all the information that his parents had, usually rewritten works of what was on the papers, just more detailed and organized. They were usually locked up so nobody would be able to steal it. Their papers contained shorthand information and usually just bits and pieces. The notebooks was where the goldmine of ghost information was at.

When his parents explained it to Danny, he wondered who would steal information on ghosts.

The Guys in White came to mind while he flipped causally through the notebook, just to see what it really was. His parents wouldn't care, everything they knew Danny already knew. There wouldn't be any new information, but he might as well look.

He saw glimpses of his mom's handwriting, so similar to Jazz's, and read some of it. As he read more and more of the notebook, not longer causally, his body went into shock.

His mom's handwriting devastatingly clear, the same one that wrote that note to explain to his teacher that he gotten sick and the one excusing his lateness to school when another ghost trap went off on him, wrote about her and his dad's theories on how ghost bodies worked and reacted.

And what they would do if they ever got their hands on a ghost.

The standard procedures were written and described. Everything needed, where they would start, and how they should go upon the dissecting of a ghost in different ways. Danny couldn't read anymore after two pages.

The words made Danny nearly throw up and his skin turn pale.

How could they write with such a lack of emotion? His parents, who care so much for him and his sister, who laugh and get mad and everything less, feel so little for the ghost that could be on the table?

How could they write it like ghosts, Danny, are inhumane? Like they could feel nothing? Ghosts weren't just objects for hunting.

Then it hit him.

His parents were ghost hunters.

And he was a ghost.

He's known this, he's always known this, but he has never viewed his parents are enemies. They were his parents, just a small nuisance. Not true enemies that wanted him gone. But they were true enemies that wanted him gone.

The only difference now is that Danny realized this. That he knows now.

Danny started to hyperventilate. His parents, his mom and dad, they wanted to hunt him and take him down and do all those awful things and cut open his body and poke at it –

He shook his head – he thought he nearly detached it from his body – and remembered who he was talking about.

His parents were ghost hunters, but he was not just a half-ghost, half-human, but their son. They wouldn't attack him.

Right?


	2. Chapter 2

Everything either is or is not, by the law of excluded middle. Either something is true or it is not. One way to prove something is to prove the opposite is false.

Either it is or it is not. One or the other.

* * *

It had been the summer before eighth grade. Jazz has been preparing for tenth grade, studying the overview of all the subjects she would be taking. One of those subjects was geometry.

A lazy afternoon with nothing to do (Tucker was out somewhere with his folks and Danny didn't feel up to hiding from the sun with Sam) caused Danny to grab one of Jazz's textbooks and take it outside. It was actually to see Jazz freak out a little about losing a textbook, but it seemed that Jazz was studying something else at the time.

So Danny was left with a textbook about math. Really, he hated math, but with nothing better to do, he started reading the textbook and doing the problems.

* * *

Geometry was the one thing Danny was decent at when concerning math. Algebra made him pull his hair out and numbers taunted him. But geometry always came easy to him. It wasn't a number or getting a number from a letter. Geometry was logic. You know this and this, so you can get this. Figuring out whether a certain line is the perpendicular bisector to some triangle was easier than figuring out standard forms.

Some people said he lacked common sense, other said that he just lacked a brain, but no what matter what anyone said, geometry, logic, came easy to him.

It was the one thing he was good at. (School wise, of course.)

* * *

Danny had conjured some paper and a pencil. In the summer heat, he managed quite a few of the problems and so far, he had gotten majority of them right. (That stupid problem with the circle threw him off – he actually needed a bit of regular math for that.)

He moved on to indirect proofs.

* * *

His family was of the smarter kind. His mother and sister got straight As and even his doofus of a dad managed to get straight Bs. Even though the Fentons were always part of the smarter bunch, they had such an, umm, unconventional job that it made it seem like they weren't. (Smart people just didn't believe in ghosts.)

That didn't change the fact that they were good parents. Sure, sometimes they spent too much time in the lab and didn't notice the most obvious things (which could be more a blessing now), they cared. Maybe they showed in it more weird ways than other, but Danny's parents really did care.

They would always accept him, no matter what. Danny knew that.

* * *

He had looked at the problem. He started with the excluded middle and assumed the opposite of the thing needed to be proven true. (It is a possibility.) He started to work backwards until he got to a certain point.

* * *

Then why couldn't he get that idea out of his head?

That day cleaning the lab was his catalyst. The seed of doubt found its way into Danny's mind. Now he just couldn't ignore idea he'd gotten that day.

Danny only thought about the possibility that they wouldn't accept him for only a split-second. He realized his mistake right after, but yet...

It just wouldn't leave.

The main reason that Danny didn't tell his parents of his ghostly side is not because he thought they wouldn't accept him. It's just that his dad had a big mouth and really couldn't keep a secret. He thought that his parents would accept him, but he wasn't too certain about his town.

But now he needed to prove to himself that his parents would accept him or else he would never have his mind at peace.

What's a better proof then it actually happening?

It would be so much easier for him too, to tell the truth. Now his parents would know why he always had to break curfew, why he had a few mysterious injuries every so often.

So he told them.

* * *

The assumption had led him to the opposite of a given. He had gotten his proof.

* * *

He didn't bothering thinking about why he needed proof. He didn't bother thinking why he was so certain on the outside, but yet he was still doubting.

He wished he bothered thinking. Then he wouldn't have forgotten his givens.

He wished he never told them.

* * *

"Danny, I was looking for that textbook!" Jazz had shouted when she went outside to find Danny doing the next indirect proof.

"Give me a minute, I need to finish writing that it can't be the bisector because the two angles can't be equal. It's a given."

* * *

**A/N: **Second chapter. I'm not completely happy with the way this turned out. But there's one more part. Thanks to everyone who reviewed/story alerted/favorite/anything. Please tell me what you think of the story and if there is any type of mistake. If you're confused about the mathematical aspects, send me a pm or review (signed). I don't want to explain it here because then it'll be a long thing. But if a lot of people are confused, then I'll explain it in the next chapter. All of these chapters are so short. I'm going to try to make the next one a bit longer. Also, every other section is part of a flashback.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Final chapter. I managed to get sick and decided to skip my prep class and write this instead. Thanks to ulimo, Fluehatraya, jeanette9a, and CrazyCoffeeKatz. Made my day when seeing the reviews. And to anyone who did anything else. Point out any grammatical mistakes and anything else that seems wrong.

* * *

"Mom? Dad?"

Danny's parents were still in the lab, but with their loud respond back, he could tell they weren't completely immersed in their work. There weren't any explosions either (yet).

The doubt wasn't gone totally from Danny, but he knew that this was the right choice. Any things that come, it may come, but this is still is the right choice. He was nearly certain of it.

Nearly.

He ignored the keyword and pushed the doubt out again.

* * *

He didn't think of why the doubt kept on resurfacing. Danny was absentminded once in a while, but he should have realized. His subconscious knew what it was doing, but he was so adamant on believing his own lies.

* * *

"Yes, Danny?" his mom asked as she took off her goggles.

"You're not doing anything important, right?" Danny was picking around the counters, trying to put the announcement off for a bit.

"Nah. Just fixing up some stuff." His dad hit one of the machines they were fixing and it gave out a blast of green.

"Yeah, fixing." Danny coughed right after to cover his words when his mom gave him a pointed look.

"Anything you need, Danny-boy?" his father asked while scraping some of the goop off the wall with a napkin. Danny knew that he was going to have to clean that up later.

"Umm, yeah. I just, like…" Danny scratched the back of his head, trying to think of a way to say this.

"Danny," his mom said, looking at him with concern. "Is there something wrong?"

"What? No!" Danny let his arm fall to his side and stood straighter. "Well, there isn't anything wrong, but there's something going on… It's not bad or anything, it's just a bit weird."

"Well, you know Danny Phantom?"

"Of course we do!" said his dad. "We've been trying to catch that no-good ghost so long, why wouldn't we know him?"

"Jack, calm down. Now, what do you want to talk about?" His mother addressed him at the end and Danny didn't know what exactly to say.

"Do you remember when the lab wasn't working last year, but I got it to work?"

"Yeah, of course. You pushed the 'on' button, right? You know, I don't think I know where that button is." His mom looked at the portal, trying to see if she could find it.

"Well, when I did that, there was this accident. I didn't get hurt or anything," Danny assured his mom when she gave him a worried glance. "It's just that it kinda changed me."

"Changed you? What do you mean, 'changed you'?" His dad looked worried too now and that in itself was completely weird and unusual.

"Well…" Danny was never really good with words. He was pretty sure that his parents would think he was joking if he just told them. "Can I just show you?"

"Show us what?" his mom asked.

"Show you this."

A white ring come from his stomach and split into two, one going to his head, the other to his toes.

"Dan-Danny?" his mother said. Her eyes went wide and his father couldn't say anything. He just stood there.

"I'm Danny Phantom."

* * *

If told, his parents wouldn't react. That's what Danny thought.

If they would always accept him, they wouldn't care. If they wouldn't care if he's a half-ghost, then they wouldn't react.

Of course they would react. It was a given. He was an idiot. He should have seen – his parents were ghost hunters, a long line of them, and he thought they wouldn't react to their child being half of what they hunted.

* * *

Danny decided against doing anything like flying or turning invisible. This would be proof enough.

"What are you?" Something in his mom's voice made him cringe. Why did it sound like that she thought that he was a monster?

"I'm called a halfa – half ghost, half human. This happened because of the accident. But I'm still your son –"

"You are not our son!" his dad shouted, coming out of his frozen state. "Our son is Danny Fenton, not some ghost that goes around terrorizing our town!"

"What have you done to Danny?" his mom whispered.

What was happening? Danny didn't understand. There was a part of him that was saying 'I told you so', but he ignored that. His parents were not supposed to act like that, like he wasn't there son. Maybe they just didn't understand.

"I am Danny, I'm your son, the boy you raised for 14 years, a Fenton –"

"Stop."

His mom's voice was so deadly that Danny closed his mouth the moment he heard it.

"Our son is not a no-good, freak ghost. He is a human being," his mom said, moving a bit towards the wall.

"I am human, I'm just ghost too."

Danny wanted to explain everything, what he's been doing, how not all ghosts are bad, but his mom suddenly had ectoplasm gun in her hand and handing one to his dad.

"Ghost, you've might got the town thinking you're a hero, but we know you're just like all the other ghosts. You're just trying to get us comfortable, unsuspecting. We know your tricks. I don't care who you are, you're a ghost!"

Ectoplasm made its way towards Danny, which he just managed to block with a shield.

"Mom? Dad?" Danny was desperate, he wanted them – he needed them to understand. Weren't they supposed to always understand, always accept?

"Ghost," his dad growled. "You've got ten minutes to get out of our home before we blast you to pieces. If we see you around town again, no matter what form you're in, don't think we'll hesitate to attack."

He gave them one last pleading look, but being at the end of his mother's gun made him leave.

* * *

Danny could tear out his head – he forgot his givens, his so important givens. He ignored them and now it's gotten him here.

He forgot one of his givens and he was paying for it.

* * *

Danny just floated over the town. He has fought his parents before, but this time, his parents knew. They knew who he was and being on the end of a ectoplasm gun this time hurt more than being blasted by one.

He thought they were going to accept him, that they would always love him.

He was wrong.

Looking over the town, Danny didn't know where to go.

Danny knew that his parents would chase him if he stayed in Amity Park. They only offered ten minutes for him to get out. He didn't have time to do anything but leave. If his parents found him again, they wouldn't be as kind. They would fight him.

Fighting him knowing he was Danny.

He knew that he shouldn't go to Sam and Tucker – he wasn't sure if his parents were going to ask or tell people about him, but he didn't want to put Sam and Tucker in anymore risk. Jazz was already out – she accepted him, but she couldn't hide him from their parents.

So Danny did the only thing he could think of.

He went to Vlad.

* * *

**A/N: **Yay for ambiguous endings! This is the end of my first and short Danny Phantom story that actually has chapters. This one manage to break a thousand words. Sorry if it's confusing or stupid or something. I'm kinda planning on using this as a prequel for another story I'm writing, since it falls on the same line... But that won't be a sequel. This is ending here. But it's probably going to be used as a prequel. God, I'm confusing. Whatever. Hoped you liked the story. Point out if anything's out of place.


End file.
